Cotton cleaner



Nov. 12,1940. E. A. JOHNSTON COTTON CLEANER Filed June 14, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 E. A. JOHNSTON COTTON CLEANER Nov. 12, 1940.

Filed June 14, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor" Eda/a Patented Nov. 12, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFiCE COTTON CLEANER tion of New Jersey Application June 14, 1938, Serial No. 213,639

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a cotton cleaner. More specifically it relates to a cotton cleaner which performs the cycle of cleaning operations a number of times on the same cotton.

Cotton cleaners of various types are well known in the art. A major problem has always been to provide a cotton cleaner which is simple and compact in construction but which will perform a complete and thorough cleaning of the cotton.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved cotton cleaner.

Another object is the provision of a cotton cleaner of simple and compact construction.

A further object is to provide an improved cotton cleaner which will, with the same mechanism, perform a cleaning cycle a number of times upon the same cotton.

According to the present invention, a shaker grating, cleaning roll, carding roll, boll crusher, and doffer are positioned so as to act successively upon cotton passing over them. A spiral conveyer or auger feed is located so as to supply the cotton to the shaker grating originally, and is also in position to receive the cotton from the dofier and redeliver it tothe shaker grating. In the period that the cotton is in the spiral conveyer from the time it is received from the doiier and redelivered to the shaker grating, it travels lengthwise of the conveyer a certain small amount. The result is that the same cotton is subjected to a number of cleaning cycles by the same mechanism, each cycle being performed a certain amount further along the length of the carding roll, dofier, etc, than the preceding cycle. Thus, the cotton enters at one end of the cleaner and passes to the other end to be discharged there while being subjected to a number of cleaning cycles. The following is a more detailed description of a construction embodying th invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the cotton cleaner; s

Figure 2 is a transverse section through the cotton cleaner taken along the lines 2-2 of Figure 3;

Figure 3 is a top View of the cleaner; and, Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view of the operative elements of the cleaner taken in perspective.

The cotton cleaner Ill, forming the subjectmatter of the invention, has a pair of end walls H and I2, which support at their ends an auger feed or spiral conveyer I3, shaker grating 14, cleaning r011 15, brush [6 for the cleaning roll, carding roll ll, boll crusher l8, and dofier l9. Cotton to be cleaned is delivered through the auger feed through a casing 20 on the top of the cleaner by means of a conveyer 2i.

The driving mechanism for the cleaner is shown in Figure l. A drive shaft 23, driven by any suitable source of power, not shown, has fiXed thereto a gear 24 which drives a sprocket chain 25. Driven by this sprocket chain are gear 26 driving an eccentric for the shaker grating It, not shown, gear 21 forthe cleaning roll l5, gear 28 for the carding roll ll, gear 29 for the boll crusher l8, gear 30 for the doiier l9, and gear 3| driving a shaft 32 for a spiral conveyer or auger feed 33 (Figure 3) adapted to receive cotton as it is discharged from the cleaner. Chain tighteners 3 35 and 36 are also driven by the sprocket chain 25. On the opposite end. of the cleaner from the chain 25 is a chain 31' driven by the doffer i9, which in turn drives a gear 38 for the auger feed 13. A bracing shaft or pipe 39 extends between the sides II and 12 of the cleaner.

In operation, the various rolls of the cotton cleaner turn in the direction indicated by the arrows. Cotton is fed from the conveyer 2! down through the spiral conveyer [3, from which it drops upon the shaker grating l4, through which some of the trash falls. Then the cotton falls down the shaker grating into contact with the carding roll I1. It then passes under the boll crusher, which crushes the bolls and may knock out some of the hulls. Next it is removed from the carding roll by the dofier from which it passes back to the spiral conveyer E3. The cleaning roll 15 picks up cotton fibers from the trash, the brush it pressing against the roll so as to press the fibers and trash against the roll and cause a retention by the roll of the fibers. The fibers are then picked up from the cleaning roll [5 by the carding roll ll. This entire cycle of operation is shown in Figure 4 by a series of arrows marked a. When the cotton passes from the doffer back to the spiral conveyer l3, it is fed a slight distance along the length of the conveyer, as indicated by the bent arrow ab, so that it drops from the conveyer upon the shaker grating in order to pass through a second cycle of operations indicated by the arorws b. The second cycle of operation carried out is displaced a slight distance longitudinally of the rolls and drums of the cotton cleaner from the first cycle. Consequently, it comes from the dolfer to the spiral conveyer l3 at a point displaced longitudinally from the original points of delivery by the doffer to the spiral feed. As it again passes through the spiral conveyer, it is moved a small amount longitudinally of the conveyer, as indicated by the bent arrow be, and falls upon the shaker grating at the start of a new cycle of operations, indicated by the arrow 0. These cycles are continued until the cotton has reached the end of the cotton cleaner at the wall II and is finally discharged by the spiral conveyer I3 onto the spiral conveyer 33, which carries it to suitable bagging apparatus, not shown.

Regulation of the cleaner is effected through a regulation of the speed of the spiral conveyer l3. If, for example, the cotton is to be subjected to a large number of cleaning cycles, the spiral conveyer l 3 is run slowly, so that the longitudinal displacement of the cotton between each cycle is small, and a large number of cycles are required for passage from one end of the cleaner to the other. If a smaller number of cleaning cycles is required, then the spiral conveyer I3 is speeded up. The longitudinal displacement of the cotton between the cycles is greater, and a smaller number of cycles is required for passage through the machine.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that a new and improved cotton cleaner has been provided. The cleaner is as simple and compact in construction as the cleaner ordinarily used for cleaning by a single cycle of operations. Yet, the cleaner is capable of a. number of cleaning cycles, which are normally efiected by a plurality of apparatuses through which the cotton passes successively.

The intention is to limit the invention only within the terms of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A cotton cleaner comprising an anger feed, a shaker grating arranged to receive cotton from the auger feed, a carding drum arranged to receive the cotton from the shaker grating, and a doffer arranged to remove the cotton from the carding drum and to deliver it to the auger feed.

2. A cotton cleaner comprising a shaker grating, a carding roll, and a doffer roll, all of considerable length, the carding roll and dofiing roll rotating on parallel axes, and feeding means extending the length of the grating and rolls and positioned to effect the original delivery of cotton to the shaker grating and repeatedly to receive it laterally from the doffer roll, to feed it longitudinally, and to redeliver it to the shaker grating.

3. A cotton cleaner as specified in claim 2, the feeding means specified being an auger feed having its axes parallel to the axis of the rolls.

4. A cotton cleaner comprising a carding roll and a dofiing roll positioned with their axes of rotation parallel, and feeding means extending the length of the rolls arranged repeatedly to receive the cotton from the dofiing roll and to redeliver it to the carding roll at a point spaced longitudinally of the rolls from the point of reception.

5. A cotton cleaner as specified in claim 4, the feeding means specified being an auger feed having its axis parallel to the axes of the rolls.

6. A cotton cleaner comprising a unitary cleaning device and means extending in the direction of the length of the cleaning device arranged to receive partially cleaned cotton from the cleaning device and to return the cotton for another cleaning to the same cleaning device at a difi'erent point in the length of the cleaning device.

EDWARD A. JOHNSTON. 

